THE SHARP-TONGUED HUNGARIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, WHOM ANECDOTES WERE PUBLISHED IN A BOOK IN HIS LIFETIME: THE “FUNNY STORIES” OF ZOLTÁN MESKÓ

The article outlines the humorous side of the life of a strange, controversial Hungarian politician and Member of Parliament, Zoltán Meskó (1883 – 1959). Few politicians may say that their funny stories were published in a book in their lifetime. The book entitled Meskó Zoltán vidám históriái. Elmondja a t. Ház folyosóján [Funny stories of Zoltán Meskó. Told in the corridor of the Honoured House] is the main source of this study. Hungary has a long history of political humour and parliamentary anecdote literature, but the historical cataclysms of the early 20th century, the defeat of the First World War, the revolutions, the crises, the terror, the economic collapse, the Trianon peace treaty, etc., did not give politicians much reason to joke and tease. That is why I consider this book significant, through which we get to know the human side and humour of a politician who later became an extreme anti-Semite and a national socialist, and who once saw “better days”, through instructive and entertaining stories. Through the “funny stories” of Zoltán Meskó, we gain an insight into the main events of the turbulent period of Hungarian history between 1918 and 1920, and the key figures of the period, from the last Hungarian king Charles IV to Count István Bethlen, from Count Mihály Károlyi to István Szabó Nagyatádi, from the social democrat deputies to the smallholder leaders also appear.